Kaito Toba, Syarifuddin Azman and wildcard Ibrahim Norrodin have completed round nine of the Supersport World Championship at the Nevers Magny-Cours Circuit but it was not a straightforward weekend for the trio.

The three PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders were on track first thing this morning for a short warm up, which gave them a final opportunity to decide on setup ahead of the weekend’s second and final race.

Race 2 ran at 2pm local time (CET) under sunny skies, with Toba, Azman and Norrodin starting from the ninth, tenth and eleventh row of the grid respectively. Getting away well when the lights went out, Toba immediately set to work, pushing to make up as much ground as possible, as quickly as possible. Progressing to twenty-third by lap nine, the Japanese rider was part of a group of riders vying for the top twenty. At the end of a taxing 19-laps, Toba took final twenty-second position. Teammate Azman was lying thirtieth through the early stages. The Malaysian rookie collected more valuable data and understanding as he worked his way up to P25, completing what has been a rather challenging weekend. Thirty-second off the line, wildcard Norrodin soon lost contact with his closest rivals and focused instead on building experience around the French track. The Malaysian was unfortunately unable to complete the race, pitting on lap eleven after sensing a technical problem with his bike.

After nine of twelve WorldSSP rounds, Toba lies twenty-fifth in the standings with 12 points, while Azman is yet to score. The tenth round of the championship will see the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda on track at Motorland Aragón, Spain, on 26-28 September.

Kaito Toba #27

“Unfortunately, we leave Magny Cours empty handed. We struggled to find a suitable setting for this track which made things tricky throughout the weekend. In today’s race it was hard to keep good acceleration, and I couldn’t do much aside from making up a couple of positions. We’ll see what we can do for the next round and keep working.”

Syarifuddin Azman #63

“I struggled more with the bike during this second race than I did yesterday. We had made a few changes after Race 1 but unfortunately my confidence level didn’t improve. I tried to manage my pace, but it wasn’t easy for me to control the bike. I’ve found this track quite challenging, but I’m looking forward to the Aragón round, where I hope to be able to find a bit more speed.”

Ibrahim Norrodin #67

“I came in on lap 11 as I was having some gearing problems. I tried my best, but I was unable to manage the situation and so decided to box. Not the luckiest weekend for me, but I want to thank the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team for giving me another opportunity to compete in WorldSSP. I also want to thank the whole technical team for taking care of my bike; I’m sorry if I couldn’t do more, but it’s been an honour to have raced here in France.”